POISONOUS HAM. 47 



Gaffky and Paak have made a thorough study of 

 some sausage which poisoned a large number of people, 

 among whom one, a strong man, died. The sausage was 

 made of horse-flesh and liver. In the majority of the 

 persons the symptoms came on within six hours and in 

 one instance within half an hour. Many had a severe 

 chill ; some did not. The most prominent symptoms were 

 headache, loss of appetite, paiu in the bowels, vomiting 

 and purging. In the fatal case, however, there was no 

 vomiting. From the sausage Gaffky and Paak isolated 

 a short bacillus, which when given by the mouth, sub- 

 cutaneously or intravenously produced the above symptoms, 

 with a fatal termination in most instances, in rabbits, 

 guinea-pigs, mice, and apes. Gaffky and Paak were 

 unable to isolate the chemical poison. 



Poisonous Ham. — Under this head we shall not discuss 

 cases of poisoning from trichina or other parasites, but shall 

 refer only to those instances in which the toxic agent has 

 originated in putrefactive changes. A. number of such 

 cases have been observed within the past ten years, but 

 only a few of them have been investigated scientifically. 

 The best known of these, as well as the most thoroughly 

 studied, is the Wellbeck poisoning, which Ballakd in- 

 vestigated successfully. lu June, 1880, a large number of 

 persons attended a sale of timber and machinery on the 

 estate of the Duke of Portland at Wellbeck. The sale 

 continued four days, and lunches were served by the pro- 

 prietress of a neighboring hotel. The refreshments con- 

 sisted of cold boiled ham, cold, boiled, or roasted beef, 

 cold beefsteak pie, mustard and salt, bread and cheese, 

 pickles and Chutney sauce. The drinks were bottle and 

 draught beer, spirits, ginger beer, lemonade, and water. 

 Many were poisoned, and Ballard obtained the particu- 

 lars of seventy-two cases, among which there were four 

 deaths. The symptoms are given by Ballard as follows: 



" I propose to speak of the attacks under the name of 

 'diarrhceal illness,' because diarrhcsa was the most constant 

 of all the symptoms observed, and the other symptoms 



